1. Technical Field
This invention relates to garment carriers. In particular, it relates to foldable garment carriers which are designed to attach to automobile garment hooks.
2. Background Art
To avoid unnecessary extra trips, many individuals deposit several garments with dry cleaners or launderers at each visit to the cleaning establishment. An inconvenience caused by depositing multiple garments is related to the custom of placing each garment on a separate clothing hanger. As the number of clothing hangers increases, it becomes more and more inconvenient to carry the clothing hangers with one hand.
Prior art attempts to address this problem have centered on devices which provide a handle attached to a hanger holder to relieve problems associated with directly holding the clothing hangers. Other attempts have used clamping devices, removable hanger bars, over the shoulder straps to provide a more comfortable method of carrying garments, specialized garments bags, etc.
In addition to the inconvenience associated with handling multiple garments, there is another problem associated with the transport of garment hangers. Namely, how does the user attach the garment hangers to the inside of the automobile while driving? The garment hook normally found inside of an automobile is typically small and does not always have sufficient capacity to hold all of a user's garment hangers. In addition, the garment hangers often damage the inside of the automobile and/or the garment hook.
Some automobile manufacturers have incorporated retractable garment hooks on the inside of the vehicle which provide additional storage capacity. However, these are not usable for carrying the garments to the vehicle, and further, they are only available on a limited number of vehicles that have the devices preinstalled.
Another problem associated with prior art devices is how the garments are stored once they are returned to the dwelling. Known devices which have the capacity to hang directly from closet hanger bars are not capable of hanging on garment hooks in automobiles.
It would be desirable if a single device could comfortably fit the users hand while carried, provide expanded capacity for garment hangers, not damage the inside of the automobile, provide convenient storage once returned to the user's closet, and be capable of folding for convenient storage.